This study explores the reasons underlying dropping out from a child psychiatric clinic in Hong Kong, and the outcome of these children.

A reluctance to accept psychiatric help, or the possibility of being labelled as psychiatrically ill, and differences between the families and doctors in their perception of the presenting problems are common reasons given for dropping out.

A substantial number of children who dropped out continued to have some degree of psychiatric morbidity two years later.

These results highlight the need to increase the community's awareness of the nature of child psychiatry, and for doctors to be sensitive to the families'perception of the presenting problems so as to minimise the likelihood of dropping out.